In the wake of this week’s speculation that Russell Crowe is considering a bid for the club, our latest chairman Andrew Umbers has today said that there is no chance of the club being put up for sale.
Another crazy few days in the life of Leeds United began with Massimo Celliono’s surprise announcement on Tuesday that he is going to delay his return to running the club when his current ban ends on April 10. We had all thought he was chomping at the bit to take control again as soon as possible, but he has decided to leave the club in the hands of others while he pursues his legal battle with the Football League.
Cellino is challenging the league’s ruling via the FAs arbitration process and will do so alone to "help the club avoid any sanctions”. While the current ban will probably be over before the FA get round to delivering a verdict on it, the is still the issue of sanctions over the delay in handing over documents relating to the case, and the possibility of a further ban due to a couple of other tax cases Cellino is facing in Italy.
The announcement prompted Russell Crowe to ask his 1.6 million twitter followers whether it was worth him making a bid for the club, and he got a few enthusiastic replies. The New Zealander is apparently a Leeds fan, and at 50 years old he is one of the generation of fans worldwide who were just discovering football while the Revie side was at it’s peak.
Crowe is the owner of Rugby League side South Sydney Rabitohs, whose fortunes have been transformed under his ownership and his current net worth is estimated at around $75 million. But even if he was prepared to invest nearly all that sum, that wouldn’t leave him with much loose change once he’d bought Cellino out and repurchased Elland Road, unless he starred in a few more blockbusters in the meantime.
In any case Andrew Umbers told BBC Sport today that there is no chance of another takeover any time soon. "The club is not for sale, nor do the Cellino family wish to sell and nor have we received any approach. The ongoing legal discussions between Massimo Cellino and the Football League are being completely misinterpreted.”
"Leeds United is currently being successfully restructured, rebuilt, significantly invested in, with care and planning for the longer term with the Cellino family at its heart, for the benefit of its long-suffering and passionate fans, the city and its players and staff.” So there we have it. We’re stuck with the Cellino family for the time being, so we’ll just have to hope that his various legal problems are sorted out pretty soon.